Re-evaluation of Styrofoam
Urban and Public Furniture Design
It is no exaggeration to say that due to the influence of Corona Pandemic, the usage of delivery food applications such as Uber Eats is booming, and the non-face-to-face online shopping rate has increased rapidly, suggesting a new paradigm in the era of untact. As everyone agrees, the garbage generated after eating delivery food and opening the package from online shopping is so enormous that there is no solution. Therefore, the advent of the untact era has brought a lot of social development, but the need to deal with huge waste has also raised as a problem at the same time. There are already countless plastic recycling solutions such as PE and PP that exist. Many companies have already participated in recycling, such as making textiles through knitting vinyl pieces or melting plastic into desired shapes. They are developed over a long period of time. But what about Styrofoam? As much Styrofoam is thrown away as plastic a day. its’ volume is so large compare to plastics, making it difficult to recycle. Unlike plastic, Styrofoam has no suitable recycling method. Stanford University’s recent research of meal worm eating Styrofoam was recognized as a very sensational announcement in that it presented a Styrofoam treatment method that had never existed before. In fact, many states including New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, have already regulated the use of Styrofoam since there is no way to recycle them in the United States, which seems to be spreading throughout all over the country. Like this, the need for research on Styrofoam recycling methods cannot be delayed any longer. Styrofoam is a large plastic made of 2% polystyrene and 98% air compression. Since the air is compressed together, it is very bulky but very light. “If I could get air out of it, wouldn’t I be able to easily get the raw material of plastic and recycle it as a new object?” That’s what I thought and started research about it. And I found out that when acetone touches the Styrofoam, the air compressed in Styrofoam evaporates, leaving only polystyrene and turn into a very small amount of slime. It is already known that about one box of Styrofoam in this acetone produces slime about the size of the palm of the hand. “If I put the slime in a specific mold and wait until all the acetone to evaporate, wouldn’t this polystyrene harden?”That’s what I thought, and I actually succeeded by conducting a lot of experiments. I found that polystyrene, hardened until all acetone evaporates, is waterproof, very solid like other plastics, can be freely colored, and anyone can recycle Styrofoam easily because it does not require heat during melting. Silicon, glasses, paper cups, vinyl, wood, etc.. everything can be used as a mold. If you use shiny materials as molds, the polystyrene will glow even after it hardens, and if you use matte materials as molds, the polystyrene will also feel matte even after it hardens. As Styrofoam is made by compressing it with air, it is also unique to this material that bubbles that have not escaped are easily observed on the surface of the material. Based on these findings, I made a mini bench that can be easily used in the city. This bench is actually made of 100% discarded Styrofoam. Styrofoam waste that can be picked in the city can be easily melted and be compressed into a small volume at once. And mass production is also possible due to low cost. Even if there is a stain on the trash, melting the colored Styrofoam together will cover the stain easily, so you don’t have to clean the Styrofoam waste separately. The only thing you need to do is remove the vinyl or stickers on the surface, and put them in acetone. And wait until they get harden. The speed of hardening varies depending on thickness and size, but if you make a small hole in the surface with a needle, the acetone usually evaporates faster. In about seven days, it hardens moderately, and after about two weeks, even in thick form. You don’t have to heat it up or blow the wind, if you store it at room temperature, it naturally hardens. It is designed as a bench type that can be easily used anywhere in public and minimized the type of pieces to facilitate mass production. It was made using green, yellow, and blue color, which symbolize nature. In order to make colors, I mixed colored Styrofoam grains together without using a separate pigment. About 35 Styrofoam boxes were used to make this chair. I’m sure this Styrofoam recycling method that I developed will be an innovative answer to the problem of waste solving around the world, given that it can be easily recycled into objects of interest.